Religious Affiliation of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence

adherents.com ^ | Dec 2005 | adherents.com

[NoLibZone]

Religious Affiliation of the Signers of the
Declaration of Independence

Religious Affiliation	# of signers	% of signers
Episcopalian/Anglican	32	57.1%
Congregationalist	13	23.2%
Presbyterian	12	21.4%
Quaker	2	3.6%
Unitarian or Universalist	2	3.6%
Catholic	1	1.8%
TOTAL	56	100%

Name of Signer	State	Religious Affiliation
Charles Carroll	Maryland	Catholic
Samuel Huntington	Connecticut	Congregationalist
Roger Sherman	Connecticut	Congregationalist
William Williams	Connecticut	Congregationalist
Oliver Wolcott	Connecticut	Congregationalist
Lyman Hall	Georgia	Congregationalist
Samuel Adams	Massachusetts	Congregationalist
John Hancock	Massachusetts	Congregationalist
Josiah Bartlett	New Hampshire	Congregationalist
William Whipple	New Hampshire	Congregationalist
William Ellery	Rhode Island	Congregationalist
John Adams	Massachusetts	Congregationalist; Unitarian
Robert Treat Paine	Massachusetts	Congregationalist; Unitarian
George Walton	Georgia	Episcopalian
John Penn	North Carolina	Episcopalian
George Ross	Pennsylvania	Episcopalian
Thomas Heyward Jr.	South Carolina	Episcopalian
Thomas Lynch Jr.	South Carolina	Episcopalian
Arthur Middleton	South Carolina	Episcopalian
Edward Rutledge	South Carolina	Episcopalian
Francis Lightfoot Lee	Virginia	Episcopalian
Richard Henry Lee	Virginia	Episcopalian
George Read	Delaware	Episcopalian
Caesar Rodney	Delaware	Episcopalian
Samuel Chase	Maryland	Episcopalian
William Paca	Maryland	Episcopalian
Thomas Stone	Maryland	Episcopalian
Elbridge Gerry	Massachusetts	Episcopalian
Francis Hopkinson	New Jersey	Episcopalian
Francis Lewis	New York	Episcopalian
Lewis Morris	New York	Episcopalian
William Hooper	North Carolina	Episcopalian
Robert Morris	Pennsylvania	Episcopalian
John Morton	Pennsylvania	Episcopalian
Stephen Hopkins	Rhode Island	Episcopalian
Carter Braxton	Virginia	Episcopalian
Benjamin Harrison	Virginia	Episcopalian
Thomas Nelson Jr.	Virginia	Episcopalian
George Wythe	Virginia	Episcopalian
Thomas Jefferson	Virginia	Episcopalian (Deist)
Benjamin Franklin	Pennsylvania	Episcopalian (Deist)
Button Gwinnett	Georgia	Episcopalian; Congregationalist
James Wilson	Pennsylvania	Episcopalian; Presbyterian
Joseph Hewes	North Carolina	Quaker, Episcopalian
George Clymer	Pennsylvania	Quaker, Episcopalian
Thomas McKean	Delaware	Presbyterian
Matthew Thornton	New Hampshire	Presbyterian
Abraham Clark	New Jersey	Presbyterian
John Hart	New Jersey	Presbyterian
Richard Stockton	New Jersey	Presbyterian
John Witherspoon	New Jersey	Presbyterian
William Floyd	New York	Presbyterian
Philip Livingston	New York	Presbyterian
James Smith	Pennsylvania	Presbyterian
George Taylor	Pennsylvania	Presbyterian
Benjamin Rush	Pennsylvania	Presbyterian

The signers of the Declaration of Independence were a profoundly intelligent, religious and ethically-minded group. Four of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were current or former full-time preachers, and many more were the sons of clergymen. Other professions held by signers include lawyers, merchants, doctors and educators. These individuals, too, were for the most part active churchgoers and many contributed significantly to their churches both with contributions as well as their service as lay leaders. The signers were members of religious denominations at a rate that was significantly higher than average for the American Colonies during the late 1700s.

These signers have long inspired deep admiration among both secularists (who appreciate the non-denominational nature of the Declaration) and by traditional religionists (who appreciate the Declaration's recognition of God as the source of the rights enumerated by the document). Lossing's seminal 1848 collection of biographies of the signers of the Declaration of Independence echoed widely held sentiments held then and now that there was divine intent or inspiration behind the Declaration of Independence. Lossing matter-of-factly identified the signers as "instruments of Providence" who have "gone to receive their reward in the Spirit Land."

From: B. J. Lossing, Signers of the Declaration of Independence, George F. Cooledge & Brother: New York (1848) [reprinted in Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, WallBuilder Press: Aledo, Texas (1995)], pages 7-12:

From no point of view can the Declaration of American Independence, the causes which led to its adoption, and the events which marked its maintenance, be observed without exciting sentiments of profound veneration for the men who were the prominent actors in that remarkable scene in the drama of the world's history...

The signing of that instrument was a solemn act, and required great firmness and patriotism in those who committed it... neither firmness nor patriotism was wanting in that august body...

Such were the men unto whose keeping, as instruments of Providence, the destinies of America were for the time intrusted; and it has been well remarked, that men, other than such as these,--an ignorant, untaught mass, like those who have formed the physical elements of other revolutionary movements, without sufficient intellect to guide and control them--could not have conceived, planned, and carried into execution, such a mighty movement, one so fraught with tangible marks of political wisdom, as the American Revolution...

Their bodies now have all returned to their kindred dust in the grave, and their souls have gone to receive their reward in the Spirit Land.

From: Robert G. Ferris (editor), Signers of the Declaration: Historic Places Commemorating the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, published by the United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service: Washington, D.C. (revised edition 1975), pages 27-28:

Liberally endowed as a whole with courage and sense of purpose, the signers [of the Declaration of Independence] consisted of a distinguished group of individuals. Although heterogeneous in background, education, experience, and accommplishments, at the time of the signing they were practically all men of means and represented an elite cross section of 18th-century American leadership. Everyone one of them of them had achieved prominence in his colony, but only a few enjoyed a national reputation.

The signers were those individuals who happened to be Delegates to Congress at the time... The signers possessed many basic similarities. Most were American-born and of Anglo-Saxon origin. The eight foreign-born... were all natives of the British Isles. Except for Charles Carroll, a Roman Catholic, and a few Deists, every one subscribed to Protestantism. For the most part basically political nonextremists, many at first had hesitated at separation let alone rebellion.

[Alex Murphy]

Religious Affiliation	# of signers	% of signers
Episcopalian/Anglican	32	57.1%
Congregationalist	13	23.2%
Presbyterian	12	21.4%
Quaker	2	3.6%
Unitarian or Universalist	2	3.6%
Catholic	1	1.8%
TOTAL	56	100%

Ping for later

[livius]

The declaration was signed by English colonials in the English area, so this is perfectly normal...they were mostly Anglicans (Episcopalians), members of the state church at that time.

I have actually always been surprised that a Catholic was allowed to sign, considering the attacks on the Catholic Church by the English at that point. So the tolerance of Catholics by Protestants was a positive sign that many people don’t recognize or understand.

[NoLibZone]

We needed France.

[Fred Hayek]

Charles Carroll was from Maryland, which had been very tolerant of Catholics.

[Ripliancum]

Good list. Added to this is how many signers were Freemasons.

Confirmed Masonic Membership of the following:
William Ellery, RI
Benjamin Franklin, PA
John Hancock, MA
Joseph Hewes, NC
William Hooper, NC
Robert Treat Paine, MA
Richard Stockton, NJ
George Walton, GA
William Whipple, NH

Membership Rumored, but not Proven by Records:
Elbridge Gerry, MA
Thomas Jefferson, VA
Richard Henry Lee, VA
Thomas McKean, DE
Robert Morris, PA
Thomas Nelson, Jr., VA
John Penn, NC
Benjamin Rush, PA
Roger Sherman, CT
James Smith, PA
John Witherspoon, NJ

[bossmechanic]

Now wait a minute!!!
Not one darn Baptist??
Heck,
Ya can’t swing a dead cat down here in Georgia and not hit three Baptist churches!!!

[240B]

There is no ‘constitutional’ separation of Church and State.
This is and has always been a myth created by Liberals.

Anyone with more than two brain cells can easily see that all the founding documents are replete with references to G-D. And all the founding fathers were religious, rational, fair and ethical people. They were all the exact opposite of a Liberal.

[ully2]

What, no muzzies?

[angryoldfatman]

About France: We benefitted greatly from the propensity of France to tick off Britain.

[Candor7]

Wasn't Jefferson a Muslim? He had a copy of the Koran in his library!/s

[Misterioso]

Not one darn Baptist??

Exactly. That's why this list is ridiculous.

[livius]

Actually, I don’t think it was that cynical (for one thing, the French had been heavily, if not officially, on the side of the Protestants for a long time). The Founders realized that a state church wasn’t a good idea and even though the Anglicans didn’t like the Congregationalists and vice versa, and nobody liked the Catholics, they understood that the Judeo Christian nucleus had to be the foundation of this new country.

[hellbender]

I'd like to see unequivocal evidence that John Adams was a Unitarian.

It's interesting to note that the Supreme Court today consists almost entirely of Roman Catholics and Jews.

[evangmlw]

Yup, the’re all owned by the world system.

[evangmlw]

Baptist were to busy preaching the gospel, didn’t have time for political office.

[I_Like_Spam]

No Methodists on the list, but then methodism hadn’t formed their own churches in America until after the Declaration of Independence.

The Baptists didn’t really organize much in America either until the beginning of the 19th Century.

[livius]

Carroll was a Catholic. Maryland was the first among the colonies to provide for freedom of religion, having been founded for this purpose by the Catholic Lord Baltimore (the Calvert family) in 1632.

[hellbender]

The Catholics (Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, Alito) on the Supreme Court are now the only barrier to complete triumph of atheistic secular values.

[Jeff Head]

Those men knew what they were about. They were dedicated, committed, God-fearing individuals who set in motion something amazing...something inspired.

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other."- John Adams, Oct. 11, 1798 "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other."- John Adams, Oct. 11, 1798

Now, after a 40-50 year coup in America...a slow coup where virtually every aspect of society has been slowly infiltrated by individuals diametrically opposed to what those original individual's set in motion, we have an abject marxist and his enablers at the helm. And they know exactly what they are about as they attempt to dissemble what ovr 220 yeaars created.

But the spirit of America is still alive and has awakened.

AMERICA AAWAKENS IN 2009-2010

...and it is forcing thee enemies, and to be sure, they are enemies to everything we hold dear, to hurry, and make their designs more plain with every passing day and to make many large mistakes, awakening further more Americans.

Now, Ameirca is at the crossroads of history, with the opportunity to start turning the long coup around in 2010 and 2012 and that freedom and true morally based liberty and this Union might not perish rom the earth. Shall we do so?

AMERICA AT THE CROSSROADS OF HISTORY IN 2010

You bet!

As seen this July 4th on www.jeffhead.com:

"Barack Hussein Obama, hear us, loyal Americans whose bloodlines run deep in this land, back to the founding & beyond, who have watered the ground of this nation & foreign soils to maintain our liberty & constitution: Molon Labe-Sic Semper Tyranus-De Oppresso Liber. Your Marxism shall not stand in this land, so help us God!" - Jeff Head, July 3, 2010

WE NEED YOU TO HELP RESTORE THE CONSTITUTION